the unite staes of america has played a significant role in the middle east

7/29/2019 The Unite Staes of America Has Played a Significant Role in the Middle East

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The Unite states of America have played a significant role in the Middle East. The United States has

a adopted a policy to safe guard its national interests in the region. Some antinational interst are

contradictory to some other intests. Such as we can say the security of Israel and the need of oil fro theMiddle East countries. The results of U.S foreign policy is different in during the Twentieth centuary.The

varied policy of results and impacts brought adversaries and enemies. Thought 1950 s and 1980s

,the middle East was the site for a cold war struggle for influence and position between

Washington and Moscow. Middle East Wars specially 1973, quickly became major internationalcrises. When the cold war ended, the Middle East remained a region of enormous geopolitical

importance.

From the standpoint of U.S. foreign policy, there are four fundamental interests: access to Middle

East oil, ensuring that the region does not fall under the sway of a hostile power, reducing if not

eliminating terror-violence emanating from the region, and insuring the security of Israel.Fistly this

chapter will analyze the historical back ground of U.S foreign policy under different presidents

.Then

Middle East was important to the United States for several reasons. First, the large oil and gasreserves of this area could play a significant role in the US industries. Second and more

important was the strategic location of the region, which could help America to protect

communist development. In addition to these two elements to Washington the Middle East was

important due to the Arab-Israel dispute.

This chaptor will discuss the hisrtorical back ground of U.S forign policy in the middle east under the

diferent presidents.More over this chapetr will also investigate the on what interst this policy is based .


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The United states foreign policy in the Middle East is relatively a recent development .Initially American

interactions were only confined to Bondsmen and missionaries. Although they were not representatives

of American goevermnemet yet they have enormous impact on the U.S enters in the region. But in spite

all these dealings in the Middle East it was the colonial powers Britain and France who was controllingthe region. Some scholars have noted that that U.S was not actively involved in the Middle East because

of the development of Orientalist mind set among Americans.1

Early Twentieth century:

The Early Twentieth Century brought changes to the Middle East but it was after the Second World

War that U.S fully involved in the region. The term Middle East was coined by Alfred Thayer a U.Snaval historian to designate the area between Arabia and India in order to signify the importance of

the region2. The First World War resulted the breakdown of the Ottoman Empire .Ottomans were

the dominant power in the region for the past four centuries. This led the Britain and France to

enlarge their colonial empires to encompass most of the Middle East. The delegate of Britain andThe suggestions France gathered in Paris at the League of Nations, the Middle East was the primary

issue. The suggestions of self determination was proposed by Woodrow Wilson in the former

Ottoman Empire was trumped by the famous Sykes-picot agreement between the France and

Britain. This divide the Middle East between France and Britain and led to the mandate system that

providedprovided Britain and France with an opportunity to secure their strategic

interests in the [region] while paying lip service toself-determination.30 As the modern

nation of the Middle East were formed ,they did so with borders drawn by French and

British diplomats that created arbitrary states with little or no resemblance to the Ottoman

provinces that preceded them.

The modern Middle East was created by British Foreign Minister declared during the First

World War by dissolving the Ottoman Empire. Lord Arthur Balfour brought a new

dynamic to the region. Balfour, in a letter to one of the leaders of the Zionist movement in

Britain, Lord Rothschild, stated, His Majestys Government view with favor the

establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish People.31. The Balfour

declaration was included a clause the civil and religious rights of the existing non Jewish

communities would be protected .This was the sign that Zionist had been waiting for. This

declaration increased the Jewish immigration to Palestine. The Zionist dream of creating a

Jewish state in Palestine would have an enormous impact on the region and would be a

primary concern of U.S. presidents Roosevelt and Truman, but until 1939 it was Britain

who was fully involved in the complexities of the Palestine Situation. In summing up

American policy in the Middle East during the period of 1900-1939, John DeNovo arguesthat the tradition of isolationism within America made the [nation]not yet ready to

abandon its historic abstinence from Middle Eastern

politics.33

The World War 11 devastated Britain and France so the postwar years of the twentieth

century brings more American involment in the Middle East. The New bipolar world

system also brought American involment in the Middle East as both USSR and U.S wanted


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its influence in the cold war era. T.G. Frasor argues that the years 1947 and 1948 saw

Americas decisive entry into Middle East affairs when Truman first ensured that the

resolution for the partition of Palestine found the necessary [votes] within the United

Nations General Assembly and then extended de facto recognition to the state of Israel

within minutes of its proclamation.35 Some scholar believe that that in addition to the

emerging relationship of the United states with Israel ,U.S officials regarded secure accessto Persian Gulf oil .U.S also wanted to halt soviet encroachment within the region as centralobjective of the U.S foreign policy. So we can thatwere there pillars of united states foreignpolicy _oil ,Israel and containment of the soviet threat during the cold War from Truman through

Busg I..

During The Cold War:

Hary S.Truman Era:

For the first American president of the postwar era, Harry S. Truman, the

economic and strategic imperatives of the Cold War quickly made the words Middle EastSynonymous with national security37. The experience of World War II highlighted

the connection between the petroleum hidden under the sands of the Middle East and

Americas national security.38 As Moscow sought to increase its presence in the region

in the early stages of the Cold War, American policymakers began to look for friendly,Stable regimes in the Middle East as allies against the Soviet threat. 39 the dissolution of

the former mandates led to several newly independent Arab nations following the warwho eventually became part of the struggle between the U.S. and the Soviets forInfluence in the region. While these concerns were central to Truman administration in

1945 and 1946, developments in Palestine by 1947 came to dominate American policy in

the Middle East.

The tragedy of the Holocaust increased the efforts of Zionists to increased Jewish immigration to

Palestine and to fulfill the Jewish home land in Palestine. This led to a War between Arabs and

Jews in the years leading up to World War II. On November 29, 1947, Truman led an effort togain the required two-thirds vote in the United Nations for a partition plan to separate Palestine

into two states, one Jewish and one Arab. This U.N resolution was largely the result of the

Zionists efforts. went against the advice of Trumans own State andDefense departments, which argued for the usefulness of maintaining cordial relations went

against the advice of Trumans own State and Defense departments, which argued for theusefulness of maintaining cordial relations with the newly independent Arab states.41 . Britain

declared that it would not implement the UN partition plan and announced that the Palestinemandate would be terminated on May 15, 1948. This announcement led to increased violence

between Jews and Arabs and the pronouncement of the state of Israel on May 14, 1948. Within

minutes of the announcement Truman extended de facto recognition to new State. The defining


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element of the Truman administrations Middle East policy was its role in the creation of the

state of Israel; however, the president was concerned primarily with Korea during his secondterm and it was under Dwight D. Eisenhower that America again become involved in the region.

Eisenhower:

Gaddis described Foreign Policy under Eisenhower as the New The New Look. He was

concerned with achieving the maximum possible deterrence of communism at the minimumpossible cost.44Esenhower avoid active interventions against the soviets and use nuclear threats

to contain Soviet encroachments. Eisenhower first active interventions in the Middle East were acovert.CIA led a coup in 1953 to overthrow the elected government of Mohammad Mossadegh

and re-instated Shah Iran. In 1954 U.S states was actively involved in Iran,Turky ,Pakistan and

Iraq. In 1956 it was the two NATO allies and not the soviets which brought the region to the

attention of Eisenhower administration.

Gamal A Nasir nationalized the Swiss Canal and met an attack by Britain and France along with

Israel. Eisenhower responded with a strong condemnation of the actions of three of Americasclosest allies. Under tremendous pressure, France and Britain withdrew their forces in 1956 and

the Israeli army evacuated the Sinai territory in 1957. The Suez Crisis marked the final gasp ofthe British Empire in the Middle East and a low point in the U.S.-Israeli relationship. It also led

to an important new direction for U.S. policy in the Middle East. In January of 1957, the

Eisenhower Doctrine was approved by Congress, which authorized the president to use force

and economic aid against any nation in the Middle East requesting assistance against armed

aggression from any country controlled by international communism.48

This doctrine was soon put to the test as Eisenhower sent American troops to Lebanon in 1958 to

help reinstate the conservative government that had been overthrown by a military coup. The two

definitive works on U.S. policy toward the Middle East in the Eisenhower era both arguethat the policies pursued were essentially flawed and failed to secure U.S. interests in the

Region.49The two definitive works on U.S. policy toward the Middle East in the Eisenhower era

both argue that the policies pursued were essentially flawed and failed to secure U.S. interests inthe region.49The two definitive works on U.S. policy toward the Middle East in the Eisenhower

era both argue that the policies pursued were essentially flawed and failed to secure U.S.

interests in theRegion.49As the Eisenhower era drew to a close, the years between John F.

Kennedys inauguration in January 1961 and the end of the October War of 1973 saw the Middle

East develop from an area where the United States had interests but no deep commitments intoone of Washingtons main priorities in foreign policy.52

The Kennedy and Johnson:

President Kennedy initiated the creation of security ties with Israel and he is credited as the

founder of the US-Israeli military alliance. It was Kennedy who first sold American weapons to


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Israel. According to Rashid Khalidi,President Kennedy decided to provide the Jewish state with

Hawk antiaircraft missiles and president Johnson sold Israel Sky hawk fighterbombers55.Initiated under Kennedy and perpetuated under Johnson , U.S policy in the region became

oriented towards Iran and Saudi Arabia as conservative bulwarks against Arab Nationalism.

Douglas Littleargues that [t]he most significant feature of U.S. policy in the Middle East during

the Johnson years, however, was not the cultivation of partnerships with Saudi Arabia orIran, but rather the consummation of a special relationship with Israel symbolized by

Washingtons tilt toward Tel Aviv in June 1967.54 This occurred during the defining

event of this period, the Six-Day War, which began on June 5, 1967 when the Israeli airforce attacked Egypt and won a stunning victory over its major enemy in the region. In

addition, the war brought Israel massive territorial gains, most importantly in the West

Bank and Jerusalem, which along with the rise of the Palestine Liberation Organization(PLO) after 1967 brought the Palestinian issue to the forefront.

UN Security Council Resolution 242 essentially stated that Israel must withdraw from the land it

acquired as a result of the June War in return for a comprehensive peace settlement with the

Arabs.

the unite staes of america has played a significant role in the middle east

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